


Risk and No Reward

by Higuchimon



Series: Reversal [25]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: Diversity Writing Challenge, Gen, This is my reversal world
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:54:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23887021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Higuchimon/pseuds/Higuchimon
Summary: Franz doesn’t want to obey Haou.  But considering the consequences if he fails… even he has to take risks for a reward he would never want.  You see, Haou’s going to let him live…
Series: Reversal [25]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/729855
Comments: 17
Kudos: 7





	Risk and No Reward

**Series:** Reversal|| **Title:** Risk and No Reward  
 **Characters:** Franz, Haou (Juudai), Pegasus  
 **Chapters:** 1-1|| **Words:** 2,463  
 **Genre:** Drama|| **Rated:** G  
 **Challenges:** Diversity Writing, YGO GX, reversal, E5, 3 dividers  
 **Notes:** This takes place in the reversal world, after **Memories and Meaning**. This also started as a rewrite of a drabble. Where did all of these words come from?  
 **Summary:** Franz doesn’t want to obey Haou. But considering the consequences if he fails… even he has to take risks for a reward he would never want. You see, Haou’s going to let him live…

* * *

Franz didn’t want to bow down. He’d never even wanted to do that to Pegasus, let alone this – this – this person. 

But an armored hand to the back of his neck forced him downward as Yuuki Juudai – Haou – strolled forward, a very amused grin twisting his lips. 

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” Haou said, eyes glittering. The hand on Franz’s neck forced his head into a nod. He drew in a quivering breath. 

“What do you want?” He had a very strong feeling that he already knew. Everyone knew what Haou wanted whenever he turned up somewhere. In the last five years he’d certainly made no secrets about it. 

Armored fingers fitted under his chin and turned his head up. The hand on the back of his head eased up but not all that much. Haou smiled down at him. 

“Oh, I think you know. You’re going to let me into Pegasus’s realm.” That smile turned the most hideous combination of sweet and terrifying. “I know you’ve heard the rumors about why I left Celestia’s realm. Or what I did when I was in Pegasus’s. Haven’t you?” 

Franz couldn’t move his head. Juudai’s fingers kept too much of a grip there. But his expression must have given it away. He had heard the rumors – Juudai killed more people in one day than some people met in their entire lives. Juudai took sick and twisted pleasure in the destruction that he caused. 

Juudai was the incarnation of destruction itself. 

“Then know this: if you don’t do what I say, then you’ll find out exactly how true each and every rumor you’ve heard is.” Juudai leaned forward, golden eyes gleaming in the evening sun. “They’re all true. And worse than you could ever possibly imagine.” 

“You can’t – Pegasus won’t let you-” Franz wanted to protest. The words didn’t make any sense and he knew it. Even worse, Haou knew it, and the laughs that rose up proved it. 

“I’m not asking for his permission. Either you tell me what I want to know or I will rip the information out of you. Or ” Haou’s sudden brilliant grin shook Franz to the core. “Or I will ask someone else.” He leaned forward. “I’m sure _Edo_ knows the proper codes.” 

Franz turned pale, his heart thudding in his chest. “You wouldn’t – you couldn’t-” But the way those golden eyes gleamed told him something else altogether. Haou was more than capable of doing so and would easily do so. 

“Would you care to test me?” Haou cocked one eyebrow. Franz believed in that moment every story that he’d heard about how much this man enjoyed hurting others. 

Slowly Franz shook his head. “No.” How could he? 

“Then bring me the codes to break Pegasus’s defenses against me. You have three days. If you’re late, then when I break them the _other_ way, I’ll make certain to kill you last.” Haou chuckled. “I did to Orgene, you know. I killed him last. I made sure that he saw everything I did to his precious kingdom and I can do the same thing to you. All you get for your defiance is to see them all die before you do.” 

Franz didn’t think he’d ever stop shaking. “Stop! I’ll do it! Just – just don’t kill Pegasus-sama or Edo-sama or Cyndia-sama.” Already his imagination conjured up ideas for what could be done to them if Haou weren’t somehow held back. He didn’t want those thoughts to become reality. He didn’t even want Haou to know those thoughts existed. 

“You expect me to not kill people?” Haou snored. “I think I’ll have to kill a few extra for that. What you get for doing what you’re told is ” He frowned for a moment, head tilted. Franz would have thought he was confused. All things considered, he knew that he was. 

Haou glanced at the black-winged angel next to him. Fallen Angel Lucifer, Franz recognized him as. Stories were mixed on why he stood at Haou’s side. Some were far more pleasant than others – that he served the Destructive Darkness and thus the living incarnation of that force. Franz chose not to think about the other stories he’d heard. 

“What say you, Lucifer? A good reward if he’s a good little doggy and brings me what I want.” 

Lucifer regarded Franz in thought before he shrugged. “I suppose it would be traditional for you to spare his life. Do you really want to?” 

“I can’t say that I do.” Haou drummed his fingers for a few seconds. “All right. I won’t say that I’ll kill you last. And I will kill you – but I will decide on when I do it and how I do it. Once I’ve finished killing everyone there, you can run free for a while.” 

Then, without warning, his eyes lit up with the kind of unholy glee that few people saw more than once and never wanted to see that first time. Haou tugged Lucifer down to him and whispered in his ear. Lucifer’s wings twitched and he chuckled. 

“I think that’s a good idea, my lord Haou.” 

Haou nodded, then turned back to Franz, indicating for the warrior holding him to release him. “Go. Bring back the codes within three days. Then you’ll get the reward I’ve chosen for you.” 

Franz wanted to ask what it was, even as at the same time, he never wanted to see Haou’s face again. The way that hideous smile filled his world sent him stumbling away, legs gathering speed as he went, until he’d fled from the woods he’d been brought to, and propelled himself down the road to Pegasus’s capital city. 

He didn’t want to do this. He had his disagreements with Pegasus, not the least of which involved Pegasus’s propensity for paying attention to certain people who weren’t him. But he’d never wanted to see Pegasus’s beautiful realm brought down into ruin and disaster, least of all by the hand of destruction itself. 

But he would obey. Because whatever Haou would do to him if he didn’t would be even worse. Worse, what he would do to _Edo_ would be even worse. The fact Haou had once been foster son to Pegasus and thus foster brother to Edo meant nothing to him. 

No, that might not be true. It meant something. It meant that Haou knew exactly what to do and who to do it to get what he wanted. Franz saw no way for that to change. 

* * *

Finding the codes didn’t take the three days he had. It barely took one. Pegasus let only a few know the codes and Franz knew he was counted among those. He merely had to ask. 

But Pegasus gave him the most piercing of looks when he did ask. That wasn't a surprise either. Pegasus had always seen through every attempt to deceive him. 

“Is there anything that you want to tell me, Franz?” Pegasus asked, voice calm and gentle. Franz winced. Oh, there was so much. But he couldn't. 

“You shouldn’t be so free with the codes,” Franz whispered. “Who knows what someone could do with them.” 

Pegasus rested one hand on Franz’s shoulder. “I think that won’t be a problem much longer, will it?” 

Franz tensed at the touch. He swallowed. “I wish I could say, Pegasus-sama.” 

“Then don’t. Do what you must. I’ve made arrangements. Everything will be fine.” 

_What are you doing?_ Franz wanted to ask but kept the words from his lips. What he didn’t know he couldn’t tell Haou. Instead he bent his head. 

“Yes, my lord.” He turned and hurried out, knowing where he needed to go. 

Behind him, Pegasus sighed and leaned his head on Cyndia’s shoulder when she entered. 

“Are you ready?” His wife asked quietly, her fine gowns exchanged for sturdy traveling gear. “We should leave as soon as we can.” 

He nodded. Under any other circumstances he would have stayed to lead the defense of his land. But if he could continue to survive, that would be the greater victory over Juudai and his incessant need to murder the ruler of every realm he conquered. Life to counter death. 

His warriors would fight as long as they could and as hard as they could. They’d fight much better knowing that he wasn’t around to be killed. Young Hayato already wandered around learning the spy’s art along with that of the artist’s. Edo departed weeks earlier searching for the rebellion that sought to defy Juudai. 

And he and Cyndia would seek shelter with the dragons. So far they had not yet chosen sides, but Pegasus knew they would never side with destruction. 

All he could do would be to survive as long as he could. And so he and Cyndia hurried away into the dark of the night. 

* * *

Franz fell to his knees before Haou, who had that delightfully wicked grin on his lips once more. 

“Well?” Haou asked. “The codes?” 

Franz gasped them out, the words of enchantment that would shatter the defenses not just around the castle but the realm as a whole. Once they were broken they could be restored but only at great effort and it wouldn’t be likely to happen if an invasion happened in the next few minutes. 

Not if. When. Haou wasn’t likely to wait around. 

“Very good,” Haou nodded. “Now, your reward. You’ll be allowed to live and to flee. And that’s what you’re going to keep on doing. You’re going to run. You’re never going to be able to rest for more than three nights in a row.” Haou’s golden eyes bored down into his and Franz could feel the bonds of compulsion setting root into him. “And to make it more interesting, you’re going to carry something for me. Never let anyone have it. Never let anyone see it.” 

Franz could not understand what was being said. Nothing had made sense to him since that first moment of realizing who he’d been captured by. The thought of what he’d done, of how Pegasus had given over the codes so easily, what was he planning, how could he just give up his realm without fighting to the death? And now Haou was telling him to run away? 

He longed for the simple days when the worst he’d had to deal with had been trying to get Pegasus’s attention with his artwork. 

Haou held one hand out in a commanding gesture. One of his servants set something bound in wrappings into his hand and Haou turned it towards Franz. “Here. This is what you’re going to guard for me. You’ll live until I decree otherwise and you will guard this with your life. At no point will you give it to someone else for so much as a second. It will never leave your possession. Only in death can you give it up. And only I-” 

Haou stopped for a second, then smiled a smile that in no way reassured Franz. “Only the proper owner of this item can kill you, aside from myself.” He raised one finger of his free hand. “And you won’t try to see what this is. Keep it wrapped. Keep it hidden.” 

He tucked it into one of Franz’s pockets. “Now start running. And never, ever stop.” 

Franz stumbled his way to his feet, fear rising higher, digging deeper, and growing stronger with every passing moment. A low moan fell from his lips as Haou’s forces divided to let him pass and he raced away from the only home that he remembered, fleeing down the road to wherever in the world he might find refuge. 

* * *

Haou watched him go, a very satisfied smile on his lips. He rather liked this – he would have to remember it. Setting someone out to flee in terror of him forever was almost as good as killing them. In some ways it was even better. Once someone died, their ability to amuse him with their pain ended. But to keep them alive and find new ways to extract agony gave him a renewable resource. 

And this would also entertain him in another way. 

“What’s the latest report on Austin O’Brien?” he asked as he prepared to smash through the defenses of Pegasus’s realm. “Has anyone seen him lately?” 

“He and his team made a little strike at one of the outreaches a week ago,” Lucifer reported. “They killed a few soldiers but that was it. They didn’t find anything.” 

Of course they hadn’t. There wasn’t anything in the outreaches to be found. O’Brien and his amusing little friends wouldn’t find what he’d taken from the wanna-be soldier until and unless Juudai wanted him to find anything. Right now he didn’t. 

Right now he’d just sent O’Brien’s deck fleeing until Franz passed out from lack of food, sleep, or rest. It wasn’t impossible that they’d cross paths, but unless O’Brien knew what he was looking for, he’d likely not ever know what Franz held. To make it even better, O’Brien would have to kill Franz to get the deck back. 

Killing an innocent man. Juudai did so hope that he would be able to see that happen. Or at least see O’Brien agonize over the choice. Would he be one of those pure and true types who’d never kill to get back what was his? Or would O’Brien do what would need to be done if he ever wishes to stand up against Juudai himself? 

He’d find out one of these days. For now, he had one more realm that he needed to crush into less than powder. He was getting better at this. This would make his fifth realm – starting with Brron’s, then allying with Lucifer’s, taking down Celestia, and most recently Orgene’s. He did little strikes into other realms, not letting them know where his attention was placed until he made his decision. 

Juudai nodded, then turned his full attention to the sense of the wards that lay so close at hand. They could enter the realm easily enough but being able to unleash their conquest wasn’t allowed as long as the defenses remained up. He set his magical fingers into the wards and began to whisper the code words that would dissolve them. 

The wards weren’t just around the palace or even the capital city. They were around each and every city in all of Pegasus’s realm. Around everywhere where people gathered and worked and lived. 

And now with a flex of the power that infused him, the Haou of the Destructive Darkness shattered those wards. He smiled. All over Pegasus’s realm his forces lay in waiting. Now that the defenses were gone, he uttered a word, knowing that his commanders would hear and obey. 

“Attack.” 

* * *

**The End**

**Notes:** Good ending. Bad ending. Haou has a lot of evil he’s been doing and a lot of stories I can tell. I have another one that I might have done in May. Every Juudai needs his Hane Kuriboh...


End file.
